A friend asked for a favor, wanted to know if I have an old computer laying around, he needs a system to aid in his Web-design course. I quickly remembered I did a system upgrade a year ago when I built my new server. Seeing the opportunity to recycle an old machine, I told him I will be happy to donate the box to him in the condition that everything runs on FOSS (Free Open Source Software). He said yes “I am willing to learn” and so today work begins. I will be putting together hardware (socket 776 -3.0GHz CPU, DDR2-2GB RAM & SATA- 320GB HDD) and then tomorrow I will begin installing GNU/Linux ubuntu 12.04 i386, hook him up wineHQ for running Windows Apps, Kompzer for web-design and a Software Development Kit in case he also wants to learn languages like Python, Java and C. .

For only R500.00 you can have your computer cured of all computer viruses, registry files optimized and improve you computer performance.

Why do you need to optimize

Even computers with the powerful second and third generation i7 Gigahertz processing power and Gigabytes of RAM need to be optimized. If you use your computer on a daily basis, you may not realize that it is getting slower by the day. The computer registry gets cluttered with useless registry keys and it just is not smart enough to get rid of the clutter on its own. The computer hard drive also gets cluttered with useless files that can and will slow your PC to a crawl if not properly optimized on a daily basis.

You can think of a computer as the human body with the computer registry being the brain and the hard drive running the rest of the body. You know what it is like to have a lot on your mind, to many things to do and not enough time in a day. A brain is a terrible thing to clutter because it can easily slow your daily functions to a crawl while trying to access information that should be readily available. This happens to the registry too. The registry has its own memory that remembers everything that is done on the computer, which in time will bog it down making it slower to access vital information.

I recommend optimising you MS Windows every 6 months especially if you’re running MS Windows Operating System. Unix/Linux Operating System users like me don’t even know what the term “Optimization” means.

GNU/linux ubuntu

I am offering cheap migration for those wishing to join the (FOSS) Free Open Source Software Community. For only R500.00 I will backup and restore you data into the faster, stable, efficient and virus free Unix/Linux ubuntu OS.

For those wishing to keep their proprietary software designed only for MS Windows, don’t worry there are other techniques we can use to have them running in your Unix/Linux ubuntu set-up. Why must you stick with MS Windows if you pay for everything and get attacked by all kinds of viruses out there.

If you are interested in joining the free community, just inbox me on siptech911@gmail.com, in the e-mail please state what the primary use of your system is and include the hardware specs of your system e.g Core 2 Duo 3.0Ghz @ 4GB RAM with 1TB HDD

COMPUTING MUST BE AFFORDABLE AND AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE……

Take a tour and try the live GNU/Linux ubuntu desktop for yourself here.

For those of us who still like to work on those MS Windows Apps that wont install and run on GNU/Linux or WineHQ, there is a solu0tion to our problems. You can use Oracle’s free Virtualbox (virtual hosting environment) or VMware Player to run Microsoft Windows OS and those Apps we so dearly love.

However on this post I will focus only on Oracle’s VirtualBox (installing it on a GNU/Linux ubuntu 12.04 LTS amd x64bit:

#2. Run this command “cd /home/username/Downloads” to get into the downloads directory.

#3 Make the file executable using this command “sudo chmod +x ./virtualbox-4.2_4.2.10-84104~Ubuntu~precise_amd64.deb”

#4 Now that the file is executable its time to install it with this command “./virtualbox-4.2_4.2.10-84104~Ubuntu~precise_amd64.deb”

At this point Virtualbox is installed so whats next? Well tell you what its time to install an extension pack that will amoungst other things install support for USB 2.0 so follow these steps;

#1. Go to Oracle VM Virtualbox and click on “VirtualBox 4.2.10 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack All supported platforms” this will download the required package into the “Download” directory.

#2. Inside the “Downloads” directory right click on the virtualbo_extansion_pack you just downloaded and open with Virtualbox, this will install the extension pack and enable support for USB 2.0

#3. Tap Super Key to get the Dash, Type “user” and click the Users and Groups icon to start up the Groups Manager. Click “Manage Groups”, find vboxusers, click properties, add your own and any other desired users to the vboxusers group. Click OK.

#4. Now log out and back in, to make use of available USB devices. Connect USB Devce(s)

So now we have installed Virtualbox, enabled support for USB 2.0 and added your username to the vboxusers group. Now yo just need to create a VM (Virtual Machine) by clicking new and follow the prompts after which you must add filters for USB by doing the following:

As from April 2013 I will be offering cheap migration for those wishing to join the (FOSS) Free Open Source Software Community. For only R500 I will backup and restore you data into the faster, stable, efficient and virus free Unix/Linux ubuntu OS.

For those wishing to keep their proprietary software designed only for MS Windows, don’t worry there are other techniques we can use to have them running in your Unix/Linux ubuntu set-up. Why must you stick with MS Windows if you pay for everything and get attacked by all kinds of viruses out there.

If you are interested in joining the free community, just inbox me on siptech911@gmail.com, in the e-mail please stat what the primary use of your system is and include the hardware stats of your system e.g Core 2 Duo 3.0Ghz @ 4GB RAM with 1TB HDD

BIOS (basic input-output system) is a technical collection of instructions that tells your computer how to boot up. The BIOS information is not stored in the hard drive, but rather in flash memory on the motherboard. Because the BIOS is a critical component of system bootup, errors or viruses in the BIOS can render a computer completely inoperable by normal means. However, most known viruses that are capable of infecting the BIOS are not designed to shut machines down completely.

Signs You May Have a BIOS Virus

BIOS viruses are extremely difficult to get rid of, but fortunately, they are very rare. Since the BIOS is completely separate from the hard disks of a computer, normal virus scan software will never catch a BIOS virus. Therefore, if you experience system behavior that can only be caused by a virus, but your virus scans keep coming up clean, there is a legitimate chance that you may have a BIOS virus. The BIOS will remain unchanged even if you completely format your hard disks and reinstall your operating system. The most commonly known BIOS viruses are those that create warning messages that say the computer is infected by a virus. These messages are followed by the automatic opening of a Web browser and the loading of a page for fake virus scanning and removal software. Presumably, the creators of the virus stand to profit by tricking computer users into entering their credit card information into these websites.

Preparing to Remove the BIOS virus

Unfortunately, removing a BIOS virus is an involved, multi-step process. You should only attempt to do this yourself if you are comfortable with backing up your data, reinstalling your entire operating system and working beneath your computer case. All of these steps will be required in the process.

Backing up Data and Creating a Boot Disk

First, back up all of your important data. The best way to do this is to store your files on removable flash drives, transfer them to an external hard drive or burn them onto a rewritable DVD or CD. Once you have backed everything up, shut down your computer. Next, gain access to an uninfected computer that is connected to the Internet. Navigate to the website of the company that manufactured your motherboard or computer and download the appropriate BIOS flash utility from its support resources. Many manufacturers make it easy to find this on their sites, but if you’re having trouble, contact your manufacturer’s live tech support. Once you have downloaded the BIOS flash utility, burn it to a CD.

Reconfiguring the BIOS and Reinstalling the OS

Go back to the infected computer, open the case, and disconnect the cables in the back of the hard drive. It is not necessary to remove the hard drive completely. Leave the case open for now. Put the boot CD with the BIOS flash utility in the CD drive and turn the computer on. You will eventually see a setup page with several options. Select the option that allows you to change the BIOS boot order. When you get to the next screen, change the settings so that the computer will boot from the CD drive first. Return to the main menu and select the option to reboot the system. Wait for the system to boot completely. Interrupting the power at this stage can corrupt the BIOS. Once the BIOS flash utility indicates that it is okay to reboot or turn off the computer, reconnect the hard drive and manually reboot the computer. Put the cover back on the case. When the computer reboots, use your most recent operating system installation disks to completely format all of your hard drives and reinstall your operating system from scratch. Once the OS reinstallation process is complete, your computer should function normally again.

Open Printers and Faxes. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Printers and Faxes.

Right-click the printer you want to share, and then click Sharing.

On the Sharing tab, click Share this printer and then type a share name for the shared printer.

Type a share name for the shared printer

If you share the printer with others using different hardware or different operating systems, click Additional Drivers. Click the Environment and operating system for the other computers, and then click OK to install the additional drivers.

Additional drivers

Note Drivers for users running other versions of Windows (Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0) are located on the Support CD. Printer drivers for Windows NT 3.1 and Windows NT 3.5 are not included.

Click OK, or, if you have installed additional drivers, click Close.

Note When you publish a printer in Active Directory, other users logged on to the Windows domain will be able to search for the printer based on its location and features, such as how many pages it prints per minute and whether color printing is supported.

To stop sharing your printer

Open Printers and Faxes. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Printers and Faxes.

Right-click the printer you want to stop sharing, and then click Sharing.

On the Sharing tab, click Do Not share this printer.

To connect to a printer on a network

Open Printers and Faxes. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Printers and Faxes.

Under Printer Tasks, click Add a printer to open the Add Printer Wizard, and then click Next.

Click A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer, and then click Next.

Add Printer Wizard

Three Ways to Connect to a Printer on a Network

To search for a printer in Active Directory

Click Find a printer in the directory, and then click Next.

Find a printer in the directory

Click the Browse button to the right of Location, click the printer location, and then click OK.

Browse

Click Find Now.

Click the printer you want to connect to, and then click OK.

To locate a printer by typing the printer name or browsing for it

Click Connect to this printer.

Browse

Do one of the following:

Type the printer name using the following format: \\printserver_name\share_name

Browse for it on the network. Click Next, click the printer in Shared printers.